Single Skin For Timber Frame?

[Suffolk_J]

Evening all,

 

So I have a build that will require 1.1m trench with minimum of 600mm concrete fill. So I'm now looking at the most cost effective way of building back up to block & beam level. Build is a timber frame which will have vertical timber cladding as a skin.

 

So onto the question, if I'm building up to block and beam level all the weight would be on the internal skin, any outer skin as far as I can tell would be purely cosmetic to meet the cladding 150mm above ground level.

 

Is there any reason I couldn't just have single skin with standard vents for the air gap under block and beam and just have the cladding floating?

 

Just feels like a lot of expense if it is purely cosmetic when all insulation would be above this cavity anyway. Happy to be told I'm wrong, I'd just like to understand why!

[nod]

You do need the outer skin 

If only to house the vents for the B&B 

You could always use common brick if your not bothered how they look 

 

[AndrewFitton]

If in doubt add more. There are so many weird environmental conditions kicking about now it really does pay to make it beefy. We’ve got a meter of hardcore 20ft round the house to counter heave risk and the blocks are laid pretty much solid as I recall to the full with of the foundations below the b&b floor. They are not expensive to buy or lay.